The Book of Daniel: Acceptance

After last week's premiere where we got to meet all the
players amidst a blizzard of plots and subplots, this week things settled down a bit for The Book of Daniel.
We last left Reverend Daniel Webster' getting the news that the stolen money ($3.2 million) that was earmarked for the
construction of a new school has been located, but the situation becomes a bit sticky when the Mafia-connected priest
tells him that if the construction job does not go to Vaporelli Construction, then there is no found money. Daniel
spends a good bit of time wrestling with the question and, in a case of mistaken identity, agrees to the deal. It
seems that Daniel has offered his acceptance to the situation, but he (obviously) has his doubts about going along
with this extortion.

Meanwhile, the rest of Daniel's family have their own issues. His wife finds out that her domineering mother still
owns their home, which leads her to further exploit her martini habit. Again, she must accept the
situation as it stands, but she has to figure out a way to turn it in her favor. Their son Adam is being kept
away from his girlfriend, the daugther of a church leader, due to some underlying racial issues. Here,
he has not accepted the situation, and vows to fight for her. Their daughter Grace, a budding young
artist, is struggling with a computer program that would bring out her talents, so she turns to a
young computer whiz nicknamed "Yoda" in order to move forward. Yoda is the epitome of an annoying
pre-teen and wants to develop a romance with Grace, but she will have none of it. However, she has learned to
accept his silliness. In other words, it all ties together. Acceptance may not mean approval--it more
likely means tolerance (at least temporarily).

Although the appearance of so many plot lines can make things a
bit difficult to follow, this week's episode was certainly more restrained than last week. Let's not forget that Jesus
didn't turn up a lot either, so it could be that Daniel will have to increasingly figure things out for himself and not
necessarily rely on Jesus to guide him through. Time will certainly tell.